‘Didn’t think much of me, did he?’ he said. ‘Thought I was greedy enough to clean up his mess.’ He was still staring at the money. ‘Sort of makes you want to pull it out, tear off the seals and throw it round the room, you know? Make a heap of it and, like, roll around on the bed. Light it up like a cigar.’

‘Best not.’

‘Yeah.’

He put the lid on. His fingers fumbled the catches. They snapped shut with loud, strong clicks.

‘What shall we do with it?’ he said.

All at once the hotel seemed very big and empty. They realised night had almost fallen.

‘I don’t want to stay here with it,’ said Bea.

‘We won’t.’

‘I don’t even want to be nearby. Or anywhere quiet. I want to be in Beaune for the night.’

‘Yeah, OK,’ said Dan. ‘But don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Nobody knows it’s here.’

They both looked at the money again. Then they heard a car door slam. They hadn’t even heard a car approaching. They stared at each other.

‘Shit. Fuck. Shit,’ said Dan.

‘What shall we do?’

The doorbell rang.

‘Bonjour?’ shouted a male voice. ‘Il y a quelqu’un?’

They went into the sitting room with Capitaine Vincent. There was something different about him – something missing.

‘I didn’t get a call from you,’ said Bea.

‘I called you back immediately,’ said Vincent.

She checked her phone. She’d had it on silent.

‘What is it?’ he said.

Bea twisted her fingers together, searching for words. ‘Dan?’

‘Yep?’

‘I’m going to try and explain it all to him. I can’t keep translating.’

‘It’s all right. I can wait. Tell me after.’

He sat down and so did the detective, looking from Dan’s to Bea’s face expectantly.

‘Alex went to Switzerland the night he died – did my father tell you?’

Vincent, poker-faced, didn’t answer. She must not expect the whole picture. She must describe her part to him, the piece that she could see.

‘Just after the accident Griff insisted we went to see where it happened. They were still clearing the road. He looked in the boot of Alex’s car – there was an officer from Bresse with us, but I don’t remember what he was called. Something beginning with B? Did anyone tell you?’

He carried on looking at her coolly.

‘Alex would have had lots of cash, in the car with him. My father told me, this morning. He would have had thousands of euros. He brought it from Switzerland, for my father. He’s closing an account there, I think.’

She waited for him to speak, but he didn’t, so she carried on.

‘We think it must have been stolen from Alex. The night he was killed.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Yes. There’s more money, here in the hotel.’

‘Here?’